


Love was never so scary

by Bjorgman



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Vampire, Alternative Universe - Nightworld, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-08-10
Updated: 2015-08-10
Packaged: 2018-04-14 01:53:12
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,832
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4545660
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bjorgman/pseuds/Bjorgman
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Nightworld laws say it's OK to hunt humans. It's OK to toy with their hearts, it's even OK to kill them. There are only two things you can't do with them:<br/>1. Never let them find out the Nightworld exists.<br/>2. Never fall in love with one of them</p>
            </blockquote>





	Love was never so scary

**Author's Note:**

> So L.J Smith's Night World series was one of my very favourite things growing up and I've had this idea in my head as a CS AU for a while but only recently decided to actually put it into actual words.  
> It was originally gonna be a one shot but I'm weak and split it.  
> It's based on a book in the series called Huntress and well, I'm not even gonna apologise for pinching ideas from her. Or for pinching a bit of her explanation of the Night World rules for the summary and title of this story.  
> Not apologising for anything.  
> Except that this is the first thing I've written in ages and the very first time I've written for this beautiful ship so be gentle!

She swears as she glances down at the skinhead in front of her, her hands around his throat, her knees firmly planted on his arms, keeping him rooted to the ground. She's not sure why she feels like this, why taking this man's life feels so repulsive to her. This is what she's been doing for the last 5 years, with her group of rag-tag orphans, leading them round, hunting down humans, mostly scum of the earth like these guys, for a quick game, a chase through the forest, always resulting in death. Never hers, or anyone in her team. Always human lives. But now as she looks down at the man in front of her, sweat beading on his brow, tears in his eyes and he's pleading - God, he's pleading, this big, tough man who has made many lives a living hell - with her not to kill him. She's never felt like this before, the hesitation, the remorse flowing through her veins at what she is, what she's let herself become. She'd seen his eyes widen with terror when he'd realised she wasn't like him, wasn't human, as she'd chased him with the speed and agility of a cat, bounding from tree to tree above him before finally dropping down from the trees canopy and cutting his path short, her canines extending as she felt the bloodlust coming to the forefront of her mind. It wasn't until later, until she had gone to sink her teeth in to his neck that she had felt the twinge of a memory, something that gave her pause, led her to where she was now, staring down at this man that she should have wanted to kill but unable to do it.

She could hear the shouts of the others, the shouts of Killian, especially, calling her name from afar. She knew by now that they would have finished with their kills, would be making their way to her, their alpha, ready to go back to crash at hers or Killian's, the only ones of them that had never had any real family at all, no one to dictate who they brought home or what time they did. She knew she'd have to do something soon before they ended up on top of her, wondering why their fearsome leader hadn't been able to finish off a cry-baby skinhead who had... Yep, he'd soiled himself. Emma turned her nose up in distaste, removing one of her hands from his throat to cover his mouth. She looked him dead in the eye and hissed, low and hurried.

"Don't tell anyone about this, alright? Run as fast and far as you can, but don't tell anyone about this. Ever."

The skinhead whimpered, nodding furiously as she eased up to allow him to scramble out from under her before sprinting away from her without so much as a glance back in her direction. She stood and tilted her head from side to side, causing it to crack loudly. Eyes closed, head tilted up to the sky, she though about the vision, the memory, she'd had seconds before she had sunk her teeth into his neck, ready to drain the blood from his miserable body. Family. Her family. And they were human. She knew if she didn't leave now then there was no way she'd be able to look them in the eye and tell them. Knew there was also no way she could go back to hunting and killing humans, her kind, for sport. No way she could look at Killian and expect him to understand. So she did what she did best. She ran. And ran. And ran. By the time Killian and the others arrived, Emma Swan was long gone.

* * *

 

It took less time than she would have thought, after piecing together her random fragments of hazy memories, to find the family that she knew she had. She tried not feel disappointed after finding out they were dead, knew that something this good couldn't be true, that she couldn't really have the family that she'd dreamt of having. She'd never told any of the others, not Anna or Jefferson, not Victor or Elsa, not even Killian. Especially not Killian. She knew what the others thought of them, hardened orphans, needing no one but their thrown together little group, not needing nor caring for anything or anyone except who or what they deemed worthy, her and Killian had been alpha and beta, leading their own group of lost boys and girls. She'd never have told them that she dreamt of having her own family. A real family, hers by blood, to call her own, not just a group of friends with unshakeable loyalty. Although, not loyal enough. Emma knew that even their loyalty and love would never stretch this far, to discovering that their alpha, their leader, the fearsome Emma Swan, was not only not a family-less orphan but was half human too. Not even Emma could wrap her head around that, she wasn't sure how she expected the rest of them too either. So it came as a surprise to Emma when she discovered that, yes, her parents were dead - her mother a vampire named Jack had fallen in love with a human called James and as a result the Nightworld had made sure to not only extinguish their love but their lives too - but that her father had a twin brother, a David Nolan, who had outlived, never knowing the real truth about what had happened to his brother and sister-in-law, thinking they had died in a car crash. He had, surprisingly, known about Emma's existence, explained that he had looked in every foster home in the state trying to find her and had eventually been forced to face facts - that she wasn't out there. He and his wife, Mary Margaret, had welcomed her with open arms, treating her the way she imagined parents would treat their own child. She'd appreciated that they'd let her in to their home, loved the way that their son Leo became like a brother to her. She tried to ignore the ache in her chest when she though of her own brothers and sisters, her lost boys and girls, her beta, her Killian. She put it down to them being the only friends or family she had ever known, that Killian had been her best friend, more than Elsa or Anna, that they'd shared nights lying together, talking about their plans for the group, or sometimes just lying in silence, reflecting on the family that had left them, abandoned them to the dark world that they were a part of. Emma knew that she might be lying to herself but she didn't regret finding David and Mary Margaret, couldn't even bring herself to regret it when Leo played pranks, or laughed at her for having a crush on a boy in the neighbourhood. She knew now what it felt to be loved, what it felt like to have a family. She should have known it would fall apart.

* * *

 

If she was surprised by how quickly she found her family then she was even more surprised by how long it took the Nightworld to find her. She wasn't sure why she thought she could get away with it. Wasn't sure why she thought that Cora and Regina would allow her to live with humans, half a vampire as she was, allowing them closer to the Nightworld than they were even aware of. Not that the Nolan's knew anything but that didn't matter to Cora and Regina, the Mills family, the root of all vampires, the first known vampire family, forming the panel of elders within the Nightworld, alongside the witches and werewolves and shifters, all other things that go bump in the night, things that people like the Nolan's thought were all myth and fairytale alike. So, through no choice of her own, Emma found herself running again. Running to save herself, running to save the Nolans, running from the world she thought she had escaped.

And then she met Neal. She tried to steal his stolen car, not knowing where she was planning on going, just that it needed to be far from here, far enough from the Nolans to keep them safe. She hadn't expected to fall in love, meet a kindred spirit, a fatherless boy with no one to love him. It may have started as a means to an end, someone to help her, to find a way to stay fed, find somewhere warm to sleep. As it turned out, after their last big job, he had both of those things covered when she ended up in jail, giving birth to their son while chained to a bed. Even the Dayworld was full of terrors.

* * *

 

In the end, the Nolan's welcomed her back with open arms. They put her runaway attempts down to her rough upbringing, having no parents and not being used to the amount of compassion they'd shown. The Nolan's were good people. She didn't like the idea that she could be putting them in danger but at the same time they were the only ones she could trust to keep Henry safe. She wasn't sure how much of her bloodline would be passed onto him and she wasn't willing to risk him being stuck with a human family with no ties to the Nightworld. They made it work between them and Henry soon became attached to the Nolan's, especially his Uncle Leo. Emma felt like she had found her place in the world, even more so when she met Graham, an Old Soul, who worked with others to bring down the corrupt evil that dwelt in the Nightworld. At first, she found herself wishing her and Graham could be something more, hoping to build something with him, despite the many lives he'd lived and seen. She worked tirelessly with Graham and became close to Ruby, a werewolf who had learnt to control her curse, bringing down the most evil of all beings within the underbellies of the city. There were stirrings in the underworld, rumours that a saviour would come to join together the Dayworld and the Nightworld. When Graham told her and Ruby of Circle Daybreak, they just scoffed at him.

"I thought circles were for witches. I am not a damn witch, Graham."

Graham levelled Ruby with his too knowing hazel eyes. He had a way of making you feel stupid no matter how intelligent the questions were, or how insightful your opinion was. Emma was sure he enjoyed making them feel silly sometimes, if the upward tick of his mouth was to be taken into consideration.

"They are. Were. Circle Daybreak is an old circle, recently reformed by one of the original descendents of Hellewise. She fell in love with a human-" Graham paused only slightly at Ruby's sudden intake of breath. "-and decided that the laws of the Nightworld were stupid and outdated. There are all sorts there. Vampires in love with werewolves, a few Old Souls, merely babies themselves, having lived only 3 or 4 lifetimes-"

"Oh yeah," Emma snorted, "Real babies."

Ruby smirked at Emma while Graham rolled his eyes, but Emma could see the corner of his mouth lift up in amusement.

"Anyway," Graham continued, "It's a good place, a safe haven. And the witches have foretold a prophecy that a saviour will come and meld the two worlds together, no more war, no more species against species, both inside and outside of the Nightworld." He turned toward Emma with warm understanding eyes. "It'd be a good place for you, Emma. For Henry and the Nolans. You'd be safe there, they’d be safe there. These people are interested in joining the races, in obliterating the line and laws between the worlds. I'm heading down there in a few days to visit with some of the Old Souls, see if I can find out what they know."

Emma knew what he was really saying. He wanted to find out if he could find the girl he had once been hired to kill, many centuries ago. He'd released her of course but had said that he'd seen something in her eyes then that he hadn't understood, only having lived for 3 centuries before this, not knowing how to read another Old Soul. But he'd told her once that when he thought back on her, he'd known without fail that she was another Old Soul, probably having only lived for one century. He told her that sometimes people weren't even aware of their past lives until it was tapped into, something only another Old Soul could help you with.

"But that's not why I called you here tonight. Emma, I've caught word of another blood group. They run mostly around the outskirts of town but they've been moving in lately. Last I heard, they were out toward the old factories."

Emma nodded grimly. She knew what she had to do. She'd found a way to atone for the sins she'd committed against the humans. Hunting and maiming those of the Nightworld that committed the same atrocities she once had. She'd cried the night she first broke and told Ruby about it. Ruby had been understanding, comforting her as she told Emma how she had killed her first boyfriend, before she was fully aware of her curse. Emma was glad that she had found Graham and Ruby and the small group they ran with. Emma chose to mostly deal with the pair than the group as a whole but they gave her her space when she needed it. Emma got the information she needed from Graham before strapping her weapons to her back, her thighs, loading her gun with silver bullets. Graham wasn't sure what species this group were, only that they were killing humans for sport. She winced as she remembered that she had deemed that a sport once too. With a short nod to Graham and Ruby, Emma tried not to think of her lost boys and girls, tried especially hard not to think of Killian, and headed out into the night.

* * *

 

She crouched down at the edge of the building as she made her way closer to the door. The towering structure was dark and dank, just a shell of bricks and debris in what had once been a profitable part of the city. She'd seen the tattooed man run from the building mere moments before, fat and balding, running out of breath before he had even gone a few steps. Emma knew how this worked, knew that whoever, whatever, was inside would let the man think he had escaped, let him get far enough to stop in relief before they pounced, gaining on him in no time at all before going in for the kill. Emma waited until the man had gotten a short distance away, still able to hear his shallow breathing as she edged towards the gaping doorway of the desolate building. It was times like this that she thought her vampire bloodline really came in handy, drawing on it to stealthily make her way toward the entrance. She peeked her head round the corner and could barely make out the shape of a man, casually leaning against the bricked wall, waiting for his catch to get far away enough for him to strike. She couldn't make out what he looked like from here, the only thing really visible was the tip of his black boot, his head turned away from her as he picked at his nails. Emma prayed that luck was on her side as she flung herself through the doorway and onto the man in one fluid movement. She had him pressed back against the wall with her forearm against his throat, throwing his face further into the darkness and causing whatever dim light shone through the window to fall on her. She'd never been more grateful for the balaclava Graham insisted she wore. Before she could reach for her weapon she felt her feet being kicked out from under her as the man straddled her chest, knees pinning her arms at her side, reminiscent of the way she'd trapped her last human before her life had spiralled into what it was now. He lifted a hand toward the top of her head and she felt him tug the balaclava off the top of her head as she squeezed her eyes shut. The cool air on her skin caused her to shiver and she was aware that her attacker still hadn't spoken. He had the upper hand now, had seen her face, and she knew that if she didn't kill him tonight then her whole identity was at risk, her family, Graham, Ruby, everyone she loved. She was just about to pry her eyes open when he spoke. One word that made her body go stiff and her blood run cold.

"Swan?"

 

**Author's Note:**

> Please let me know what you think!


End file.
